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Oscar the Grouch
Oscar the Grouch is one of the major characters on Sesame Street, and has been on the show since the first episode. He has a green body, has no nose, and lives in a garbage can. In fact, he loves trash so much that he's rarely seen outside of his can. According to Sesame Street Unpaved, "The character of Oscar was inspired by a nasty waiter from a restaurant called Oscar's Tavern in Manhattan. Jim Henson and Jon Stone were waited on by a man who was so rude and grouchy that he surpassed annoying and started to actually amuse both Jim and Jon. They were so entertained that going to Oscar's Tavern became a sort of masochistic form of luncheon entertainment for them, and their waiter forever became immortalized as the world's most famous grouch." (In the Ask Henson.com web column, Jim Henson Company Archivist Karen Falk said that the restaurant was named "Oscar's Salt of the Sea" -- and went on to say, "Some of the designs that we have in the Archives were done by Jim Henson on Oscar's paper placemats!") While Jim Henson's first sketches for Oscar colored him purple, the original Oscar puppet was orange. After the first season, the original puppet was torn apart, and a new puppet was built. This one was green, which remained his color. (Oscar's explanation for his color change was that he had vacationed at Swamp Mushy Muddy, where the dampness had turned him green overnight.) He temporarily turned white (and nice) in the Sesame Street Live show Elmo's Coloring Book. His trademark song is "I Love Trash". Oscar's girlfriend is Grungetta. By the second season, it was established that "Grouch" is a species of its own. Oscar's grandmother Granny Grouch appeared in the 2nd season premiere, Episode 0131. Oscar has many forms of transportation. He can move with his legs sticking out of the can, as seen in Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, Don't Eat The Pictures, and Sesame Street Live. He also often has Bruno The Trashman carry his can around while he's inside. In addition to those modes of transportation, he frequently moves outside of the trash can. Oscar's friend and pet is Slimey, an orange worm. On occasional episodes he has mentioned leaving Sesame Street to attend "the annual Grouch convention in Syracuse, New York." Oscar has a car, the Sloppy Jalopy, which was used in Follow That Bird and many episodes of Sesame Street. Oscar has appeared in segments such as "The Adventures of Trash Gordon", "Ask Oscar", and "Sneak Peek Previews". He is often teamed up with Telly Monster. During the first season of Sesame Street, the street set was arranged such that Spinney, who is right-handed, was forced to operate Oscar's head with his left hand. A subsequent redesign of the set allowed Spinney to switch hands. In Oscar's trashcan * Slimey, Oscar's pet worm * Fluffy, Oscar's pet elephant (only her trunk is shown) * Rosie the Hippopotamus * A fire breathing dragon * Farm animals, the existence of a goat and a pig is confirmed * A bowling alley * A piano * A pool with a dolphin named Ripper * Chickens Characters that have gone into Oscar's trashcan * Elmo *Luis * Forgetful Jones * Placido Flamingo * Snuffy * Telly Monster * Linda * Grungetta * Oscar's mom (puppeteered by Jerry Nelson) * Buffy Sainte-Marie, when she was visiting Sesame Street * David's Grandma, who freaked out on Oscar. She came out clean, Oscar dirty, implying she must have actually beat Oscar up. * Bob, who climbed into Oscar's can, only to get burnt by Oscar's pet fire-breathing dragon, get covered in muck head to foot, and get his clothes torn by the mess. * One of Bob's friends, who fixed something in Oscar's can * Bert, twice in the 1970's -- once when Bert moved out of his and Ernie's apartment (he tries to clean up the trashcan, leading to confrontation; some say this was meant to be a spoof of The Odd Couple), and again in an attempt to surprise Big Bird * Maria, in the late 1970's, to get a cup of sugar * Irvine, (Episode 2606) -- Oscar's niece was in the can while Oscar was away * Sonny Friendly, season 24, for The Home Game * Wanda Cousteau, season 25, to hide from the hungry Wolfgang the Seal * Ruthie, season 28 or 29, when she was "Grouch of the Day" * Miles Robinson and his band, season 35, playing a gig * Julius Erving and the Philadelphia 76ers who play the grouches in basketball inside the can while Gordon and Gina peer in. The ball comes out of the can, and Dr. J comes out soon after. Gordon says, "My goodness, you're Julius Erving". Dr. J says, "Uh, yeah. Can I have my ball back, please?" * Big Bird, Elmo in Grouchland, he was pushed in When making an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Grover responded to a question from Jimmy, stating that he has never been in Oscar's trash can. He also stated that "anybody is allowed Oscar's trash can, but who would want to go in there? Huh?" http://www.toughpigs.com/anthnewstuff05.htm Trivia *Oscar is seen outside of his can in A Muppet Family Christmas. *Actor Hervé Villechaize, famous for playing Tatoo on Fantasy Island, portrayed Oscar's legs when he walked around with the trash can covering most of his body. Hervé represented Oscar's lower half until Bruno the Trashman was introduced. *Oscar's first words on Sesame Street were: "Don't bang on my can! Go away." See also *Oscar Through the Years Category:Sesame Street Characters Category:Muppet Characters